Last year (2015) I began the A to Z Challenge started seven years ago by Arlee Buird with such high hopes. I took pains to do so much up front work to put skeletons of my posts together in an attempt to have posts ready prior to their publish date. All was going well until the middle of March of 2015. My daughter, wife and I traveled to Chicago with the high school band so our daughter could march in the Windy City’s Saint Patrick Day’s parade. While there I got a call that the wife of a church member had died and they asked if I would be a pall bearer. In itself that event alone would not have sidetracked me, but t was a mere body blow compared to the one two knockout that followed.
Moments after arriving home on a Monday after a never-ending chartered bus ride (Sleepless ride, I did not mention), I found out my dad’s youngest brother had died unexpectedly. Two days later the family pet died. Now don’t get me wrong, I would never equate the two events, but provide them for context. I am a dog person so much that when I see one out with its owner I ask to pet the critter. So you can imagine how being exhausted and having these two events coincide combined to make me feel uninspired.
But this is another year later and their is a new puppy in the house and with it a renewed vigor. So I thought I would pick up where I left off last year. I did not sing up on the master A-to-Z list because I was not sure of or when I might be motivated to try again.
Nicotiana is a plant I grew in my greenhouse during the six growing seasons I tried to make a go of selling annuals and perennials. In the climate where I live, the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, this is only grown as an Annual. The colors are rich and varied. The plant, leaves and blooms share some characteristics of the larger plant grown for use as smoking tobacco.
